Guards walk out of labour hearing over ‘bias’

Security guards contracted by Nally Investment CC in the ||Kharas region are accusing the company of underpaying them and mishandling a labour dispute.

The guards, who recently walked out of an arbitration hearing with the company and the Labour Commission, are stationed at schools and hostels at Karasburg, Grünau, Ariamsvlei, Warmbad, Aroab, and Gabis.

They claim the company does not pay them the national minimum wage of N$13.50 for security guards, which came into effect on 1 January. Employee representative Jacobus Basson claims the company continues to provide workers a fixed salary of N$2 300 per month.

“People work for them during cold nights while they are asleep, but today they are heartless and refuse to pay the poor people,” he says.

The minimum wage for security guards will increase to N$16.00 per hour in 2026, and then to N$18.00 per hour in 2027.

Six of the guards have refused to sign contracts that would allegedly have seen them accept the fixed salary of N$2 300 per month.

Pieter Cloete and 28 other guards lodged a dispute with the Office of the Labour Commissioner on 8 October 2024 over unpaid wages and claims that the workers were forced to sign unlawful contracts.

The case was heard before arbitrator Namataa Mwangala at Karasburg on 8 August this year.

According to the arbitration record, the applicants’ representative, Basson, informed the arbitrator that he could no longer represent the employees. The record further claims that while proceedings were still ongoing, the applicants left the premises without explanation, leading the arbitrator to conclude that they had voluntarily abandoned their right to be heard.

Mwangala ruled that the matter be dismissed and removed from the roll, noting that the applicants showed no further interest in pursuing their case. The company, Basson claims, has received back pay from the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture.

However, instead of paying the guards, Nally Investment allegedly only paid the guards half of what they were owed.

“We walked out of the arbitration hearing because the arbitrator was biased and they did not want me to represent the guards, but allowed a lawyer to represent Nally Investment. Because of that she ruled in favour of Nally Investment,’’ Basson says.

An associate attorney representing Nally Investment, Okeri Tjipeua of Metcalfe Beukes Attorneys, says the employees’ contracts ended in September, after which they launched the dispute. “They claimed that they were ‘entitled’ to be paid a certain amount by Nally Investment as back pay,” Tjipeua says. He says the applicants conducted themselves in a manner that was “off-putting” at the hearing.

“While we were dealing with evidence, they were represented by activist Basson, who kept interrupting the process, and eventually he was asked to leave the arbitration and they all walked out. “As a result of walking out, the arbitrator recorded it and made a ruling that the claims against Nally Investment were dismissed because they abandoned their claim by walking out,” Tjipeua says. He says by law Nally Investment has no obligation to pay the employees, since the dispute was dismissed – unless they take it to a higher court.

‘HARRASSMENT’

“My client has been receiving numerous harassment attacks from Basson, and we are currently considering taking action against him. As much as they have rights, my client also has rights,” he says.

Elizabeth Namupala (40), a mother of four from Karasburg, has been left jobless after being fired in September.

“I just got a letter from my supervisor at the beginning of September 2025 that said we will be working till 6 September 2025,” she says.

Namupala claims she was told the owner of the company does not want to work with them because they tend to report employers to the Office of the Labour Commissioner.

“The supervisor calculated and said we will get N$7 500 as back pay. We later found out from those who are still working there that they only got N$5 500,” she says.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.